Stonehenge is a spectacular prehistoric monument located near Wiltshire England. The monument is made of huge sandstone and bluestone blocks that are known to come from Marlborough England 30 km north of Stonehenge. Stonehenge is thought to have been built some time in the paleolithic age when people didn't have very advanced technology. So that begs the question, how did the people of that time manage to build something out of huge stones that could only have come from a quarry 30 km north, and what exactly was their reasoning?
How Did They Transport the Blocks?This is another fact about stonehenge that no one really knows for sure. Each stone is aproximitly 50 tons making it nearly impossible to move them long distances. Some people think that the stones were transported from the Preseli Mountains to their current place in England by a force of magic. Others believe they were just moved by hundreds of men picking the stones up moving short distances at a time. Though this is possible it is very unlikely because it would cause many serious injuries or deaths. Another theory is that the stones were moved by giant sleds that would slide through the terrain using animal fat and grease to reduce friction. This is very possible and is likely what they did. My favorite theory, though, is that the Neolithic people moved the stones by rolling them on top of large logs and then rolling them, moving each log back to the front after the stone had rolled over it. The stones were probably tied to large ropes and pulled over the logs.
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How Did They Build the Monument?
Another question that archeologists have been trying to solve for years is how did the neolithic people who built stonehenge stack the stones on top of each other. If you look at a picture of stonehenge you will notice there are smaller stones stacked on top of the larger upright stones. One large theory is that giants, aliens or some kind of mythical creature stacked the stones but this of course cannot be proved. Maybe the stones were pulled across a dirt ramp with a rope and 100 determined men to get them on top of each other but we'll probably never know.
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Resources:
Image from commons.wikimedia.org/wiki
Video from discovery news
Image from commons.wikimedia.org/wiki
Video from discovery news